Ah, what a day yesterday. You’d think getting from Boston to Philadelphia would be easy. I’m here, teaching my “Key Concepts of Lean in Healthcare” workshop for the first time for LEI. I got to Logan a little before 1…
tl;dr: Many people misuse the 5 Whys by asking five loosely related questions rather than a sequential chain of cause and effect. Real root cause analysis requires disciplined logic–each “why?” should build directly on the last. This post explains how…
Checking In With Denver Health CEO Patricia Gabow On A “Model” Health Care System – Kaiser Health News Dr. Patty Gabow has been one of the leading CEO voices talking about Lean in Healthcare, as shown in the article linked…
As I had alluded to the other day, there was a huge investigative piece that ran across the country Sunday in the Hearst Newspapers. The main URL for the series is www.DeadByMistake.com. You can read all of the articles at…
TL;DR — Healthcare Quality & Patient Safety by the NumbersPreventable medical errors remain one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Research suggests hundreds of thousands of patients die each year from avoidable harm, while millions more are injured due…
Today’s blog post will be just a bunch of random thoughts. For one, I just got back from London last night after a whirlwind Lean healthcare tour. I visited five hospitals between London and the south of England in three…
I’ve complained about this before, it hardly fazes me any more when the media say that GM is going to be “leaner” in the future. Of course, Lean Thinkers realize they mean “smaller” not “more lean” in the sense of…
It has been over 10 years since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s study on preventable medical errors: To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. So how are we doing? Are there still nearly 100,000 patients dying…
TL;DR: At GM, fear and poor leadership blocked bad news from flowing both up and down the organization. Executives were shielded from reality, frontline workers weren’t told the truth, and trust eroded as a result. Without leaders going to the…
After 25 years, GM ditches NUMMI tie-up with Toyota In the news this afternoon: PRESS RELEASE: 2009-06-29 GM Media Statement Regarding GM’s Ownership Stake in NUMMI Attributable to Troy Clarke, president, GM North America “As part of its long-term viability…
Toyota Names Akio Toyoda President, Apologizes to Shareholders for Losses This was rumored for a while, but Toyota has formally named Akio Toyoda as the next President. Yes, “Toyoda” with a “d” — that’s the family name. Back when Toyota…
Lean Leap to Health Care #9 (Click for Part #8) by Scott McDuffee “I’m not sure if I have ever learned anything with my mouth open. But, I know I learn a lot with my eyes, ears, and mind open.” Sitting…
